president's waves

Welcome to May,

Our Overseas team had another challenge with Soloman not opening up in time for our trip. Nils has been busy this spring overcoming travel challenges. I hope everyone appreciates all the hard work and experience that Nils puts in and shares with us. Special thank you to Nils.

Our first meeting back at the Marriott was a success, we had 16 members at the meeting. This is our largest in person attendance since COVID excluding the holiday party. Special thank you to all the members that came to the meeting. Based on the attendance, we will be starting up the Lobster Pot again. Please come out and socialize with other members. If you plan to eat at the Bistro, please place your orders early, they were overwhelmed with our members last month.

Because we are now returning to the Courtyard and in-person meetings, I need to ask for help for the Board with our open positions. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact me.

• AV Coordinator
• Promotions Coordinator
• Mini Trip Coordinator

Also, if you have items you would like to donate for the Lobster Pot, they would be appreciated and as soon as we have a Promotions Coordinator we will coordinate to get these items from you.

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

Welcome my friends,

So last month our Overseas Travel team had the challenge from the change from the liveaboard to a land-based resort. I would like to congratulate the team for finding a very good trip for our members. This really highlights the experience and knowledge of our VP of Overseas Diving. Thank you Nils for all you do for the club.

Another change that was undertaken this past month is the change in our meeting location. The Board voted to look at options to the Hampton Inn, while our first choice didn’t work out do to some functional requirements of the facility, Ronnie was able to get us back into the Marriott Courtyard on Cypress Creek. This is a very nice surprise to be able to return to the Courtyard.

Because we are now returning to the Courtyard and in-person meetings, I need to ask for help for the Board with our open positions. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact me.

• AV Coordinator
• Promotions Coordinator
• Mini Trip Coordinator

Also, if you have items you would like to donate for the Lobster Pot, they would be appreciated and as soon as we have a Promotions Coordinator we will coordinate to get these items from you.

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

Welcome my friends,

This month has seen some challenges to our Overseas Travel, but the good leadership by Nils has provided great options to protect and benefit our members. While these events have been challenging, the resolutions show how our club is strong and provides quality services to our members. Our club depends on volunteers, please support those volunteers that are running the club and if you desire to join us, please reach out.

The Board has 3 open positions, so if you are interested in serving on the board, please contact me.

• AV Coordinator
• Promotions Coordinator
• Mini Trip Coordinator

As avid divers, we need to protect our hobby and the marine life that makes our hobby so spectacular. Rule making to open the Goliath Grouper harvest will be voted upon by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission at the FWC meeting scheduled for March 2 and 3, 2022. Please participate if you can.

If you would like to view free Zoom tutorials, you can find them here. Or you can take a free Zoom class from Geeks On Tour here.

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

The year is off and running. It is hard to believe it is February already. The Board had the first meeting and confirmed the previous appointed board members to serve another year to provide the club the same great service as last year. We have 3 open positions, so if you are interested in serving on the board, please contact me.

• AV Coordinator
• Promotions Coordinator
• Mini Trip Coordinator

Our February speaker will be live at the Hampton Inn. If you are comfortable with attending live, please come out to support our speakers and the great job Rick Dayan has done in finding them.

As avid divers, we need to protect our hobby and the marine life that makes our hobby so spectacular. Rule making to open the Goliath Grouper harvest will be voted upon by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission at the FWC meeting scheduled for March 2 and 3, 2022. Please participate if you can.

If you would like to view free Zoom tutorials, you can find them here. Or you can take a free Zoom class from Geeks On Tour here.

Don't forget to keep checking our Facebook page for the interesting articles Russ is posting. https://www.facebook.com/usadiveclub

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

Happy New Year! I hope everybody had a safe and festive Christmas and New Year’s with family and friends.

First off, I would like to thank everybody for confirming our elected officer this year. The election was quite different from previous years as we performed our election online and there wasn’t any opposition. The following is the list of our elected officers.

We will select the appointed Board Positions at our January Board Meeting on the 11^th. If you wish to be considered for a position, please email me at president@usadiveclub.org.

Our January and February speakers will be live at the Hampton, so if you are comfortable with attending live, please come out and support our speakers. Rick Dayan has been getting us really good speakers and this Month’s speaker doesn’t appear to be any different.

If you would like to view free Zoom tutorials, you can find them here. Or you can take a free Zoom class from Geeks On Tour here.

Don't forget to keep checking our Facebook page for the interesting articles Russ is posting. https://www.facebook.com/usadiveclub

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

Happy November, Fall is here and hurricane season is over. Hope everybody is enjoying some diving while the water temperatures are still very comfortable. The club has a lot of local diving going on, so plenty of opportunities to see our friends and share a good dive.

Unfortunately FWC voted to allow limited harvesting of Goliath groupers, this is a sad thought for me and I am sure most of our membership. They are such beautiful giants. I go busy and didn't do any Goliath dives this year.

I will be going to DEMA with Nils this year to look for a trip opportunity for next fall for the club and my first DEMA experience. I am looking forward to it.

For all of the members that are vaccinated and comfortable with live meetings, we would enjoy your company. Especially for our live presenters like this month with Rob Myers.

Welcome to October and Fall is finally here. Summer in South Florida can be challenging with the oppressive heat, but soon the temperatures will cool down some. Unfortunately the water temperatures will also and we know some of our members don’t appreciate the cooler water. This is good motivation to get some local dives scheduled. Ryan has several on the calendar, so sign up and enjoy some time in the water, this is one of the reasons we all live here.

Goliath Grouper protection is active again, please check out the following link and anything you can do is greatly appreciated. These are amazing animals that many of us enjoy diving with and photographing.

https://www.dema.org/news/579832/ALERT-FWC-Meeting-in-St.-Augustine-FL-Regarding-Goliath-Grouper.htm

It is that time of year again already, we have Board Elections upcoming and need your assistance in continuing our great club. The following are the current officers and they have agreed to serve for the next year.

Please be aware that any member meeting the qualifications can be nominated at any of our membership meetings prior to the election.

If you would like to view free Zoom tutorials, you can find them here. Or you can take a free Zoom class from Geeks On Tour here.

Don't forget to keep checking our Facebook page for the interesting articles Russ is posting. https://www.facebook.com/usadiveclub

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

As a reminder to last month's news that the Board has approved in person meetings, we are maintaining broadcasting our meetings via Zoom. This allows us to socialize both in person and virtually, plus recruit some great speakers that are not in our area. For those that are in the area, please remember that the location has changed to the Hampton Inn on Cypress Creek East of I-95.

The Club had a very successful trip to Belize on the Aggressor, please check out the trip report for information. USA is going to South Caicos September 11-18, this is a change to the Little Cayman trip since Cayman Islands aren't open for travel still. The group will have an amazing time. We also recently opened up a trip next year on the Cayman Aggressor, not sure if there are openings still. If you are interested, please reach out to the trip Lead Clare Anthon.

Since we are moving back to live meetings, there are some Board positions that need to be filled. If you are interested or know of someone that would be interested, please let me know and I will approach these members.

• AV Manager
  
• Promotions
• Mini Trips
• Membership (Stephanie has requested to step down)
  

If you would like to view free Zoom tutorials, you can find them here. Or you can take a free Zoom class from Geeks On Tour here.

Don't forget to keep checking our Facebook page for the interesting articles Russ is posting. https://www.facebook.com/usadiveclub

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President

As a follow-up to last month's news that the Board has approved in person meetings, we are maintaining broadcasting our meetings via Zoom. This allows us to socialize both in person and virtually, plus recruit some great speakers that are not in our area. For those that are in the area, please remember that the location has changed to the Hampton Inn on Cypress Creek East of I-95.

This month has also had good success with local diving and the July 4th party. The ability for people to begin socializing again together is a sign that society is moving forward safely from the isolation of the past year.

Since we are moving back to live meetings, there are some Board positions that need to be filled. If you are interested or know of someone that would be interested, please let me know and I will approach these members.

• AV Manager
  
• Promotions
• Mini Trips
• Membership (Stephanie has requested to step down)
  

If you would like to view free Zoom tutorials, you can find them here. Or you can take a free Zoom class from Geeks On Tour here.

Don't forget to keep checking our Facebook page for the interesting articles Russ is posting. https://www.facebook.com/usadiveclub

Happy diving,

Chris Hardham
President